# Hanly — user reviews > 204 indexed App Store user reviews of Hanly by Artur Gorokh, rated 4.90/5 from 342 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hanly/id6741442324/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hanly/id6741442324.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 330 · 4★ 9 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 1 ## What do users think of Hanly? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Intuitive and efficient way to learn characters - 🚀 Effective learning method that builds on prior knowledge - 💡 Helpful mnemonics and stories to aid memorization - 👍 Customizable learning pace and progress tracking - 🚀 Comprehensive coverage of characters and components **Cons** - 🐛 Some AI-generated illustrations could be improved - 💡 Addition of writing practice and example sentences would be helpful **Commonly reported bugs** - No known major bugs reported **Most requested features** - Addition of writing practice for characters - Inclusion of example sentences for each character - Expansion of content to cover more advanced vocabulary ## Newest reviews (18 of 204) ### 5/5 — Thank you *2026-07-16, version 1.2.4* Amazing app. Best thing I’ve found for learning characters. Please add more campaign levels! ### 5/5 — Perfect *2026-07-16, version 1.2.4* It’s so perfect because it breaks down the characters. I wish they would make one for I love the way it is structured. ### 5/5 — Great for supplementing learning! *2026-07-14, version 1.2.4* I’m so bad at planning my studying sessions to account for the forgetting curve but this app does all the work for me! I was skeptical at first because I struggle to remember new information without hand writing things, but the spaced repetition has meant that I can keep practicing until it’s in my long term memory- I just need to make sure I use the app most days. The way characters are introduced makes it easier for me to figure out the meaning of new characters so I’ve been better at figuring out the meaning of sentences even when I forget the pronunciation of a character. ### 5/5 — great app for learning vocabulary *2026-07-10, version 1.2.4* i’ve been using it daily for a couple weeks and i’m definitely improving ### 5/5 — So helpful!! *2026-07-10, version 1.2.4* I was struggling to learn characters in a Chinese 1 class, and this app has saved me! Great mnemonics, great interface, a lifesaver!! Thanks to the Redditor who mentioned this, I am forever indebted. ### 5/5 — Good! *2026-07-09, version 1.2.4* Useful, free, easy to use. The best app I’ve found for learning hanzi. ### 5/5 — Must have for learning characters *2026-07-07, version 1.2.4* I’ve tried a bunch of Chinese learning apps, and this is the only one that feels really well-made. You can tell there was a lot of effort and thought put into it. ### 5/5 — Beautiful interface *2026-07-06, version 1.2.3* I have never seen a more serene, soothing, aesthetically pleasing interface in my life. The structured learning fits my ADHD wikipedia rabbithole way of searching for more information once I feel comfortable with what I’m reading. This is an exceptionally well designed app that is supplementing my Chinese education, and it doesn’t overlap Anki or Pleco to any degree that I feel like I have to ditch. ### 5/5 — Best app for hanzi learning *2026-07-05, version 1.2.3* Best Chinese learning app behind Pleco. As a “know enough to speak like a child” native speaker, this app gives me exactly what I need to improve my vocabulary, which is my biggest bottleneck. I would gladly donate to the developers for this app. Please add a tip jar. Any chance we could get a lock screen widget to show the characters we’re reviewing? ### 5/5 — Marvelous app *2026-07-02, version 1.2.2* I never review anything but I had to for Hanly. Hands down the best app of its genre and it’s crazy that it’s all free. Thank you to the developers and educators behind it 🫶 ### 5/5 — Fantastic gem *2026-06-30, version 1.2.2* Highly recommend!! So useful and learning so much every day. Thanks devs for making it free! Will subscribe when I have some cash! ### 5/5 — Incredible *2026-06-30, version 1.2.2* I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed an app so much that I left it WITH MY OWN FREE WILL to go leave a positive review (there’s no “rate us now!” button, I came here on my own) I use this app alongside Duolingo because Duolingo is really bad at making any sense of the characters. Something about the structure of this app just… clicks. I really enjoy the examples of how you can remember something. At first, some of the memory recommendations seem corny, but boy are they effective. I really enjoy the pacing of this app, bringing back old symbols occasionally for review while continuing to focus on the ones I struggle with. At this point, I’ve learned about 120 characters. My Chinese co worker said that once I hit 1000, it will be similar to a grade-2 reading level, which I’m super excited about. To whoever made this app, you are incredible, and I hope you continue on beyond this to introduce more characters because I don’t know what I’ll do without this once I learn the first 1000. If you ever post a link for donations, I’ll gladly contribute. If I meet you in real life, I’d buy you a beer (or coffee, or tea, or whatever) ### 5/5 — Amazing *2026-06-29, version 1.2.2* I'm learning fast and having so much fun doing it too ### 5/5 — So far, I’m pretty impressed! *2026-06-23, version 1.2.2* Very intuitive! ### 5/5 — Outstanding *2026-06-13, version 1.2.1* This is one of the best all-around apps I have ever used. It is intuitive, engaging, and excels at its purpose of teaching characters. The introduction of characters, nmemonics, options for pace of review, optional extra details, and occasional cutesy little side comments, are all very well done. I can’t believe it’s free. ### 5/5 — Amazing app *2026-06-10, version 1.2.1* This is an amazing app. It really feels like its creators care and the delivery, explanations and order are really great. Thank you so much!!! ### 5/5 — Best App to learn Chinese characters *2026-06-07, version 1.2.1* And you cam use it without wifi! ### 5/5 — Amazing app *2026-06-01, version 1.2.1* I teach chinese to foreigners and this is an amazing app for my students and myself. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 2/5 — Uses AI *2025-11-22, version 1.1.23* I just started using this app and while it does seem like a handy learning tool, I’m extremely disappointed to see that it uses AI images and who knows how much AI for the descriptions as well. Thinking twice about using the app because of this. ### 3/5 — Great, but why all the AI? *2025-10-28, version 1.1.22* I really like this app, and I find it helpful for remembering the different characters, but why is every picture AI? Surely there are similar pictures you could find. It’s a bit disappointing to see. ### 4/5 — Amazing App!!! *2026-08-24, version 1.2.7* Hanly is an amazing app for beginner Chinese learners. While I'm more of an intermediate-advanced learner, this app still works wonders for my learning. It does not have any ads and does not require payment to learn (which is AMAZING compared to other Chinese-learning programs). I love how there are different modes so I can choose to either focus on writing, reading, or others. Hanly is very customizable and accessible. I also love how it integrates small 'lessons' about Chinese culture, like idioms or dynasties. It has a very organized and clean appearance, which adds to the app's appeal. The only thing that could be improved is the number of available characters and the stroke order charts. Overall, this is a fantastic app! (I would love it if it continues to have all the free features ;) Thank you! ### 4/5 — Very useful! *2026-07-08, version 1.2.4* Would be 5* if not for the AI-generated images. Thankfully, you can disable most instances of it. ### 4/5 — This makes learning characters feel more intuitive *2026-05-05, version 1.2.0* Although I wish there were an option to have traditional characters as the primary and for them to have the same decomposition/primitive info and characters they appear in if the mode was on. ### 4/5 — quite helpful *2026-04-05, version 1.1.31* very good for learning to read and i really like the study pacing. the AI stuff is really distracting and could draw doubts over the validity of the text. ### 4/5 — suggestion *2026-03-23, version 1.1.31* would love if we have example sentences for the new words, or some quizzes ### 4/5 — Great for simplified, trickier for traditional *2026-02-10, version 1.1.30* Although this app has a traditional toggle, it’s really not conducive for learning traditional characters. This is because even with trad toggled on, the simplified is huge and distracting in flash cards; sometimes it lists multiple trad character options so I don’t know which one is right; you can’t search with trad characters; the learning order benefits simplified. Sometimes the simplified character combines two traditional characters into one and it’s hard to understand that. HOWEVER, I still really like the learning method (explaining the original pictograph/oracle script intentions). My workaround for traditional learning: 1. Get the Pleco flash card add on; Hanly easily links to it and you can review without having to cover half the screen. 2. This is a bit weird but get the Japanese kanji app WaniKani. They use trad characters and the mnemonics are sometimes more helpful. Sometimes even the sound mnemonics are helpful if the Japanese word is similar to the Mandarin. 3. (Optional) Have a parent proficient in reading trad so you can constantly ask them about confusing things like which traditional character is the right one Also…I don’t like the use of AI art, as an artist myself. I understand this is a super powerful free app, but it functions perfectly well without images (which I have turned off). I do still really appreciate this app! ### 4/5 — Great app with a few pet peeves *2026-01-29, version 1.1.28* The app is great for consolidating and reviewing words and characters that I may not have encountered as frequently or struggle to memorize. It is also excellent for introducing new characters systematically which are relevant to daily life. However I have some issues. For example, one is that even though my daily character limit is set to 100 characters, even after only going through 70 characters. Another one is that I'd like the character limit to have a higher limit. I'd also love more options fo character writing practise such as perhaps practising writing characters / words from a certain collection ### 4/5 — great app! *2026-01-12, version 1.1.26* I really appreciate all the work that went into making mnemonics for each character and word, and I also love the review aspect. My only complaint is with the obviously AI-generated imagery used with each character; it just seems tacky. I understand that you may not have time to draw art for each character, but please consider revamping this aspect when you have time. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Best App For Learning Ever! *2026-08-27, version 1.2.7* Often times I don’t have time to learn the specifics of characters during the class because I have to practice speaking/grammar. But this app is perfect! It’s free, there are no adds, and it’s so so good. It uses imagery and stories to help you remember the characters and teaches you not only words but about the culture too! ### 5/5 — Fantastic free resource *2026-08-25, version 1.2.7* This is a super way to learn the Handy in a friendly and informative way. Better than paid apps ### 5/5 — Best app for learning Chinese characters *2026-08-22, version 1.2.7* Good explanations of the composition of each character, making it very easy to remember. ### 5/5 — Amazing *2026-08-19, version 1.2.7* Gets better as you have gone through more lessons so you spend more time reviewing the flashcard-like repetitions. ### 5/5 — Wow. What a find. *2026-08-16, version 1.2.6* Just download it already!!!! ### 5/5 — Great for ABC literacy *2026-08-14, version 1.2.6* Intuitive teaching methods, my literacy is getting better already ### 5/5 — Mnemonic! *2026-08-10, version 1.2.5* Great hints, nice pictures and a bit of philosophy. Love you ### 5/5 — Incredible *2026-07-28, version 1.2.5* Such a useful tool for getting a deep understanding of the language. Just as vital of a tool as Pleco. ### 5/5 — Such a great app ! *2026-07-26, version 1.2.5* This is a great app to learn characters, the mnemotechnics are excellent, and there’s no subscription needed ! A gem. ### 5/5 — Fantastic App! *2026-07-23, version 1.2.5* I highly recommend this app. Such high quality content made with lots of care. You don’t need to subscribe at all, but I do because the app provides fantastic value. Thank you! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*